A/N:
Okay, so final chapter up! Once again, thank you for all the
fantastic reviews! You guys are too good to me and I only half way
deserve it. ;) Anyway, I hope you like it and I hope it makes you
smile.

This
is, of course, dedicated to my lovely ever after, who always get me
through the day. A million kisses to you, angel!

Okay,
read on!

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Catherine
shrugged into her denim jacket then grabbed her purse before slamming
her locker shut. She didn't care that they still had a half hour
left of shift. She had finished her assignment, and she needed this
day to be over.

"Mom!"

The
red-haired woman turned to the door just as Lindsey catapulted into
her arms. Her eyes locked with her sister's over the girl's
shoulder, searching for an explanation.

"I
thought you might need a bit of cheering up, so we came to you."

Catherine
nodded her appreciation.

Lindsey
leaned back, "Were Sara and Warrick on that plane, Mommy?"

The
tears caught in her throat once more as the now familiar pain in her
chest wracked through her body. Nancy waved her goodbye, "I'll
leave you two to it."

Catherine
set her daughter down and took her hand, "Let's go to my office,
baby."

When
they had closed the door and taken seats on the sofa, Catherine
brushed a stray lock behind Lindsey's ear.

"They
were on the plane, weren't they?" The girl wiped at her eyes with
one hand.

Catherine
thought back to two months ago, to the first time the three of them
went out together. Sara had looked like a cornered cat and Lindsey
hadn't been much better. She had tried to encourage them to get to
know each other; it had been the first big test in their
relationship.

"Linds?
Why don't you tell Sara about the play."

There
was a painful sigh. "Every year," she droned, "my school puts
on a play."

"Come
on, Linds, tell her all of it."

Shoulders
sagged. "This year, its Bye-Bye Birdie."

Sara
bobbed her head. "My high school did that when I was a little older
than you."

"Really?
Well, usually only eighth graders get lead parts. But me and a bunch
of my friends tried out anyway."

"That
was brave."

"I
guess. They were looking for girls that can sing and dance. And I've
been taking ballet and jazz classes since I was four. I never did
singing lessons, but I like to sing."

"So,
you got a part?"

"Yeah,
I got the part of Kim."

"Isn't
that like…the lead?"

"Yeah,"
Lindsey breathed, somewhat less than ecstatic.

"And
that's bad?"

"Well,
I'm excited about it, but none of my friends got a part. And now
they are all mad at me. Katie Hamm is my best friend and she won't
even talk to me anymore. And Jessica Alvarez told the entire school
I'm a showoff."

"Well,
screw them."

"Sara!"

The
brunette's eyes grew wide and she quickly covered her mouth with
her hand. "Oh, I mean, umm…"

Lindsey
doubled over in laughter.

"What
Sara meant to say is that you shouldn't worry so much about what
other people think. Don't be afraid to be an individual. Right?"

"Oh,
yeah, that's exactly what I meant."

"Mom,
seriously: Chill. Out. So Sara," Lindsey took the woman's hand,
"will you come see me in my play?"

Sara,
taken off guard, looked to the girl's mother. Seeing her victorious
grin, the younger woman relaxed. "Sure, that would be great. That
would be really great."

When
Catherine came out of her daze, she wiped away tears she hadn't
known were running down her cheeks. Her arms were heavy with the dead
weight of her sleeping daughter. She wished she could carry her to
the car the way she had when she was little, just let her sleep away
the trials of the day.

"Linds,"
she shook the girl's shoulder lightly, but she didn't stir.
"Lindsey, wake up, baby. Time to go home."

Catherine
stood up and offered a hand to her daughter who took it and pulled
herself up.

"Can
I please miss school today, Mom? I don't feel like explaining to
everyone why I'm so sad."

"Sure,
baby. Why don't we curl up in bed with some hot chocolate and have
a quiet day?"

"That's
a good idea." The girl nodded.

As
the mother and daughter turned into the reception area, a voice
called out, "Hey, Catherine."

Catherine
turned around. There was Nick, looking lost and exhausted and behind
him, Greg and Grissom with equally weary expressions. "Hey," she
said, without much conviction.

Nick
looked from Lindsey to her mother. "Look, Cath. The three of us
were going to drive up to McCarran for one last search in the
wreckage. Do you want to ride along?"

Catherine
smiled, tight-lipped. "Thanks, but I'll pass. I've had all I
can manage, I'm just going to take Lindsey home and lay low for the
day."

The
men nodded their understanding.

"Listen,
Catherine, you know if you need anything," Greg began, but the
woman held up a hand.

"I
know who to call. Thanks, guys. We should go, and if you want to beat
morning rush hour, you need to head out too."

Catherine
headed towards the main doors and the rising dawn, one hand in her
daughter's, the other clutching her bag. Her eyes were downcast.
She could hear the footsteps of the three men behind her and she
didn't want them to see the despair on her face that would
undoubtedly bring words of pity and meaningless reassurance raining
down. She didn't want that, she didn't want anything. What she
wanted was nothing. She didn't want to feel or think, she wanted it
to go numb. How was it possible to feel so empty inside and still
have so much pain in her heart that it threatened to burst?

Suddenly
she felt a sharp tug on her arm. She turned to see her daughter
stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide and unblinking as she
stared off into the distance. "Sara," she whispered.

"I
know, baby, its hard to take in, but we just have to-"

"No,
Mom," the girl said, extending her arm and pointing, "Sara."

Her
heart thudded in her chest. "Sara?" she questioned, turning. At
the far side of the lot a tall brunette was getting out of a taxi
cab, a backpack over one shoulder. It couldn't be...could it?

"SARA!"
Lindsey cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled.

The
brunette looked up from where she was bent, paying the driver, and
waved a hand at Lindsey, a wide grin on her face.

"Sara…"
Catherine gasped for air as the flood of relief hit her senses like a
stampede of wild horses. And then she had dropped her bag and her
daughter's hand and she was running. "SARA!"

Grissom,
Greg, and Nick stopped abruptly, all thinking the exact same thought.
Sara?

Catherine
kicked her sandals off and ran faster, speeding up as she approached
the younger woman, rather than slowing down. Realizing this, Sara had
just enough time to drop her pack before she had two arms full of
Catherine. The redhead threw her arms around Sara's neck and leapt
up, wrapping her legs around the taller woman's torso.

Sara
couldn't stop grinning. She knew the whole team was watching and
she just didn't care. She circled her arms around the other woman,
holding on tight.

For
her part, Catherine was a royal mess, she could barely speak, "You're
alive," she gasped, tears filling her eyes, "oh, thank God,
you're alive." She hugged Sara's neck, and then caressed her
face with one hand, laughing and crying at the same time. She brushed
a stray hair out of her face and then leant in close. But when her
lips were just centimeters from her lover's, she sat back.

"Wait
a minute," her eyes narrowed. She released her hold on the
brunette, and as soon as her feet touched the ground she took a step
back. "You're alive?" Her arms were crossed in front of
her, her jaw was set, and her tone had a definite edge.

Sara
gulped. "Uh…"

"How
can you possibly be alive?"

"About
that, see-"

"No,
I don't think you understand- you cannot be alive. Can. Not.
So, unless you have been resurrected recently, Sidle, you are going
to explain here and now why I have been sifting through plane
wreckage all night, searching for your corpse!" Sara had never seen
Catherine so irate. Ever.

She
put her hands up in surrender. "Honey, don't be mad." She spoke
in the tone of voice used on cornered animals. "Warrick and I
changed our flight. After the crash at McCarran, our flight was
canceled, so we took the bus all night to get here."

"Right.
So you did know about the crash?" Catherine tilted her head,
disbelieving. Her cheeks were flushed with the anger threatening to
boil over.

"Uh…yeah."

"And
you knew I'd be on the case and you knew we'd probably
assume you were on the plane." Catherine's voice was deadly calm.

Sara
bit her lip. "That would be…correct."

"Do
you see what is wrong with this picture? Because unless I'm
mistaken, I am your girlfriend." Catherine spoke slowly,
like she was explaining something complicated to a small child. "So,
we should be on same page about most things. Even the little things
like WHETHER YOU'RE ALIVE OR NOT! That may not seem like a big deal
to you, but it ranks pretty high up there for me!"

"Baby,"
Sara began, but she was cut off by a waving finger.

"No,
do not 'baby' me! You don't get to be the nice, responsible
girlfriend here. Of the two of us, which one spent the night thinking
the other was scattered in pieces on a cement runway? Oh, yeah! That
would be ME! Is it that hard to pick up phone, Sara?" This last
sentence came out as more of a plea than anything else.

"I
tried! My cell died and Warrick left his in the hotel and there is
absolutely no service in the desert- you don't know how many phones
I borrowed. The first time we got coverage was in Reno, and that was
only an hour away, so Warrick said we should just show up at the lab,
since it was the kind of news that was better in person anyway."

Catherine
closed her eyes and tried to breathe evenly. "Sara, there are at
least ten stops on the bus route between LA and Vegas. Were all the
payphones broken too?"

Sara
froze. Shit. How could I…? She smiled nervously. "Uh…oops?"

Catherine
put her face in her hands, trying to regain control as the events of
the evening came rushing back full force. "I thought you were
dead." Her voice was not much above a whisper.

"You
don't seem to get it- I thought you were dead! No goodbye,
no warning, just taken away from me." Her eyes began to fill as her
voice got caught in her throat. "I was so scared, Sara. I thought
you were gone forever and all I could think about was everything we
didn't do, everything we didn't say. I felt so lost without you.
You weren't there, you were dead, and I…I…" Her voice
betrayed her and she began to sob and hiccup.

Sara
reached into her back pocket and produced a very nearly clean napkin.
With it she dried her lover's tears, then returned it to her pocket
and wrapped her arms around a now defenseless Catherine who continued
to cry into her shoulder. "Shh," she comforted, "its okay. It's
over and I'm right here."

After
a moment, Catherine looked up with liquid eyes, "I needed you,"
she whispered, "and you weren't there. I've never needed anyone
like that. I just wanted to be in your arms one more time, hear your
voice. I love you, Sara. I always will."

Sara
beamed a wide and sparkling smile. "I love you too." She brought
the other woman's lips to hers and kissed her fiercely. "And I
always will."

Catherine
pulled herself flush against the taller woman, but frowned when her
hip bone collided with something hard in the region of Sara's front
pants pocket. Her eyes went wide, "Please tell me that's not what
I think it is."

"Hmm?"
Sara looked down. Realizing what Catherine was referring to, Sara was
hit with a sudden and brilliant idea. Warrick had said to seize the
moment, hadn't he? She stepped back and reached into her pocket.
She offered the velvet box to Catherine.

The
older woman smiled and took it, expecting to see earrings or a
pendant, she gasped when she flipped the top open.

"Not
unless you think its an engagement ring."

Catherine's
head snapped up. "En…gagement?" she spluttered over the word.

Sara
nodded, stepping closer to the other woman.

"I
know its only been two months, and for most people that isn't a lot
of time. But for us…Cath, I love you, and I don't want waste
another day without you. I wake up every morning wanting to spend the
rest of my life with you and I was sort of hoping you felt the same."
Losing her nerve, her eyes met with pavement. "If its too soon, I
understand, but I just wanted you to know that that's where I am."

Catherine
tilted Sara's head up and searched her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Have
I ever done something without weighing all the benefits and
consequences?"

Catherine
smiled, "Not as far as I know."

The
smile eased Sara's fears. "So will you, Catherine? Will you marry
me?"

For
the first time in many years, Catherine Willows giggled. And
then she nodded. "Yes. Absolutely." As the last syllable left her
lips, they were met with Sara's urgent, passionate kiss. As the lip
lock continued, Sara deftly slid the ring onto her fiancee's
finger, then brought her hands to that same fiancee's face.

After
a minute, a young voice offered, "Um…not to break up the party
here, but I just wanted to remind you that you are making out in a
very public place. Really, I don't care, I've seen you swapping
spit like a thousand times and I don't think one more will kill me.
But I think these guys are a bit umm…surprised."

Sara
and Catherine broke apart, only just remembering they had an
audience. When they turned, they both had to hide their laughter.
Warrick off to one side was grinning broadly, but it was the other
three team members with equal expressions of shock and disbelief that
drew laughter from the women.

Nick
tried to make sense of it first. "So…you two…you with her and
the two of you together and…really?"

"Really,
really." Sara smiled.

Grissom
shook his head, "Wait, I'm confused. So…you're not dating
Warrick? Because you are in fact dating…Sara?"

As
they got in the car and drove off into the sunrise, they had a single
moment of serenity and happiness. Joining hands, the music mirroring
the colors of the sky, it was absolutely perfect until the dulcet
tones of reality hit them.

"What
is this violin crap we're listening to?"

"Watch
your mouth, Lindsey."

"You're
not my mom yet, Sara."

"Don't
talk back to Sara."

"Yeah,
don't talk back to me!"

"Sara,
please act your age."

"She
started it!"

"I
don't care who started it, you're the adult."

Lindsey
snickered.

Sara
turned around in her seat and stuck her tongue out at the girl.

The
small blonde rolled her eyes. "Do I really have to go to school?"

"Yes,
you do."

"Oh,
Cath, remind me to pick up some milk before I head home."

"I
thought maybe you'd stay over tonight?"

"Yeah!
Slumber party!"

"Linds,
you will be staying with Nana or Aunt Nancy, this is a grown up kind
of slumber party."

Silence.
And then, "Eww." She made a gagging sound. "I am so totally
scarred for life."

The
two women laughed, staring into each other's eyes for a brief
second. This was their life, their story, and no matter what came
their way, they would handle it together. And live. Lovely. Ever.
After.

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Well?
What do you think? Did it make you smile? Because if it did, you
should feel obligated to review. After all, who wouldn't want to
review such a wonderful story? Hey, I'm just being honest. Besides,
my lady love likes it and obviously she has great taste ;) so it has
to be good.

Okay,
so that's all for now, folks, thank you so much for reading, and
make sure to keep an eye out for my upcoming work!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.